In this alternate reality, Illyasviel von Einzbern is not a homunculus and a Master in the Holy Grail War – instead, she’s a schoolgirl who lives with her cousin-turned-brother, Emiya Shirou. However, magic still exists. When Kaleido Sticks Ruby and Sapphire abandon their masters Rin and Luvia, Ruby flies into Ilya’s bathroom, knocking out Shirou and casually inviting her to become a magical girl – in a bid to collect the Class Cards and save the world from evil!

Impression

Oh man, I got so many laughs out of that. Where do I even start? Everything seems so surreal – maybe it’s the fact that everyone’s living peaceful lives, with Ilya happily going to school instead of hunting down Shirou relentlessly (with mad dog Berserker at his heels). It’s definitely a far cry from Fate/stay night – Shirou’s living with Ilya, Sella and Leysritt, though Kiritsugu and Irisviel are nowhere to be seen (Sella did mention Irisviel once). Familiar faces like Issei or Rin are around too, and Taiga is as hot-headed as ever xD Oh, and Ilya’s now an anime junkie. I suppose this is as close as we’re getting to an Ilya route, which isn’t something…realistic in the Fate franchise, given her role in the war and what happens to her in all three routes ;_;

“How disgraceful, Tohsaka Rin! Your own stick is lecturing you!”

So Rin and Luvia (from Fate/hollow ataraxia) start off as the Masters of Kaleido Stick Ruby and Sapphire – having spent a year abroad (presumably at the Clock Tower in London) they’ve now come back to collect the Class Cards together. Well…they were going to collect the Class Cards. And I doubt they’d have worked together. Luvia suffers from a bad case of ojou-sama, which irks Rin to no end :D Though isn’t Rin supposed to be a pretty refined girl herself? Elegance isn’t certainly how I’d classify each of them…but I’m pretty sure Luvia’s boobs must have played a part in getting Rin to hate her xD Rin is far too cute with those extra animal ears, it’s a pity she was abandoned by Ruby – who is certainly the most chatty magical device I’ve ever seen. Sapphire is…quieter, but I can’t say she’s much better when they both casually abandoned Rin and Sausage Curls like that. I kinda wanted to see the Archer vs Lancer battle, as I have no idea how the Class Card system works – I saw Rider and Saber Alter in the OP, but Miyu also managed to summon just Gae Bolg somehow.

I always imagined Ilya as a willing recipient of a magical girl contract, so it was weird seeing her get tricked into binding with Ruby. Well, I don’t blame her – I’d definitely be wary of a dodgy talking stick that randomly flies through the window and knocks out onii-chan (poor Shirou!) while talking about magical girl contracts. Kyuubey tried that too, and we all know how that turned out. Ruby is actually unbelievable – I can’t believe she planned Ilya’s nosebleed, then pissed her off until Ilya grabbed her – sealing the contract. It’s the birth of a new Kaleid Liner (whatever that means), Prisma Ilya! Methinks Rin is secretly happy at making someone else collect the Class Cards instead. At the very least, Rin and Luvia can now fight out a cold war between themselves through helping Ilya and Miyu.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with Prisma Illya so far. There’s always the worry that it’ll ride on the success of the Fate franchise instead of forging its own name for itself – with only 10 episodes, I do hope Silver Link know what they’re doing. I’ve actually been looking for a good magical girl show for some time now, so hopefully this steps up to the challenge :D As this is a Niconico pre-air complete with craptastic quality, Episode 2 will turn up in two weeks – this time on real TV! I hope you’re looking forward to it, because I’ll definitely be sticking around.